Preinstalled McAfee Security Center Activation

I bought a Dell Inspiron 1545 in 2007 (according to my System Information). It came with various programs preinstalled of course, and a few discs for reinstalling them. But what I'm chiefly concerned about is my McAfee Security Center, which came preinstalled, and with no disc. I can't seem to activate it. I right click on the icon in my task bar, and click 'Activate Product'. It brings up a window for activation. There are two different 'dots' that I can fill in, either the one that says, 'I already have an existing McAfee account' (which I do), or the one that says, 'I do not have a McAfee account'. I have an online McAfee account, so I choose the first one, and put in my email address and password, and click 'I Agree' on the 'End User License Agreement' (which I don't quite understand in the first place), so I can continue. The window then changes and says:

'To complete activating your PC protection, log in to your McAfee account. You can log in using the email address and password that you entered when you activated your McAfee products or created your McAfee account online.'

It then tells me that if I'm unable to activate it I should contact McAfee Customer Support and mention the support code and Dell tag that they give in the window. I contacted McAfee customer support, but they couldn't resolve my problem.

It sounds as though you are trying to activate a McAfee subscription that has expired. You said that you got the system with the software pre-installed in '07. How long was the subscription?? Is McAfee running on the machine now? Has it ever?

I've hardly been using any anti-virus programs, I suppose. I've had a few small things, but nothing like McAfee. McAfee is still running now, but only for another 10 days. Then I suppose it's going to shut down if I don't activate it by then?

No, I think it's still running. At least for now. I've run a few scans, and it's even rid my computer of viruses in the past few days

Perhaps I do not understand how McAfee can be running, staying updated, scanning, and removing viruses if it was never activated/registered. When Dell installs an anti-virus, it needs to be activated, and your email address and name registered with the vendor before it is fully functional.

IF there were viruses on there, it is entirely possible that the malware has blocked McAfee. If you find, after installing new security, that you are still having problems with your computer, let us know.

Yeah, I don't really get it either. But either way, I've got Microsoft Security Center and other virus protection now, and my computer is working fine. It would have been nice to have McAfee up and running correctly, but I'll do fine without it. My PC is doing great.